Carol’s Summary:
For the first time, is has been reported that Americans’ creativity is on the decline. Even though Americans grow increasingly intelligent, creativity scores have been falling since 1990. The College of William and Mary collected data in the form of creativity test scores from 300,000 children and adults nationwide, and found the scores from children in kindergarten to sixth grade were most troubling.

The creativity test was created by Professor E. Paul Torrance in the 1950s, and has been administered to people by psychologists worldwide. No one knows exactly why creativity has declined in younger generations, but it is suspected that television, videogames and other forms of technology may have something to do with the problem. Children aren’t as often encouraged to exercise their creativity at school nor at home.

Some researchers believe that “creativity training” programs may be able to help adults and children who struggle with creativity. In creativity training, people would be asked to perform tasks such as creating music on a keyboard, and finding different ways to solve common problems, such as how to reduce noise vibrations in a library.

Creativity is just as much, if not more important than conventional intelligence. Many of the world’s greatest leaders, inventors and other historical figures were and are people who thought outside of the box of conventional thinking. Creativity fosters innovation, which brings about new ideas and products for the masses and enables nations to evolve and grow.

Despite the fact that people are becoming more intelligent, the fact that creativity is on the decline is quire worrisome, especially for children since they are our future. As educators and parents, it is our responsibility to foster children’s creative abilities; Critical and Creative Thinking for Teenagers is a book that presents students with the opportunity to use their imagination, be inquisitive, and create new ideas. To learn more about this book and Lifebound’s other books, visit www.lifebound.com or e-mail contact@lifebound.com.

Article:
The Creativity Crisis
Back in 1958, Ted Schwarzrock was an 8-year-old third grader when he became one of the “Torrance kids,” a group of nearly 400 Minneapolis children who completed a series of creativity tasks newly designed by professor E. Paul Torrance. Schwarzrock still vividly remembers the moment when a psychologist handed him a fire truck and asked, “How could you improve this toy to make it better and more fun to play with?” He recalls the psychologist being excited by his answers. In fact, the psychologist’s session notes indicate Schwarzrock rattled off 25 improvements, such as adding a removable ladder and springs to the wheels. That wasn’t the only time he impressed the scholars, who judged Schwarzrock to have “unusual visual perspective” and “an ability to synthesize diverse elements into meaningful products.”

The accepted definition of creativity is production of something original and useful, and that’s what’s reflected in the tests. There is never one right answer. To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).
To read the full article: www.newsweek.com